Pregnant panhandler caught driving off in Mercedes Benz

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SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- A pregnant woman who was begging people for money outside a San Diego shopping center drove off in a Mercedes-Benz, according to an eyewitness who captured the incident on camera.

The woman stands outside local shopping centers every weekend with her son, sometimes with her husband, begging for money

"She sits there with the sign. He goes and parks the Mercedes. And they put up the sign and not less than five minutes, here she is getting money from all these people," said Michelle Smith, who took photos of the woman.

Smith says the panhandler came after her with a big rock when she saw the camera.

"Next thing I know, she picks up this big boulder, about this big, goes over her head. I don't know if pregnant people can do that, but it was pretty big over her head and coming at me with this rock," Smith said.

An eyewitness called 911.

Police ran the license plate on the Mercedes and traced it to an apartment in the suburbs of San Diego. When a reporter went to the home, the panhandler and her family had already moved out.

4 comments

Michael R. Roth

This is really very tragic. The problem is that there truly are people out there in desperate situations that are truly in need. But all this misguided story is going to do is to cause people not only to be unwilling to help, but probably causing them to receive insults and abuse on top of it.

Joshua

Don’t give to panhandlers and expect any good to come from it other than your self satisfaction. Panhandlers are all either scamming or funding addiction. If you actually want to help, give them a card with the address to local shelters, food dispensaries, government resources office, etc. California is rife with free food, housing, medical care, etc. There’s simply no honest excuse to be panhandling or giving to them .